Our overall objectives are to further the theory of diffusive and convective mass transport in the exchanger part of artificial organs; to design and evaluate prototypes of implantable artificial lungs based on branched, coiled microporous tubes; to design and evaluate the vascular graft component of such devices in relation to thrombus formation in a non-anticoagulated environment; to investigate factors related to erythrocyte and platelet damage and thrombus formation in artificial organs; to design, fabricate and evaluate tridimensional tissue culture devices that may serve as an implantable substrate for functionally active cells such as pancreatic beta cells, hepatocytes or endothelial cells, to sustain the prototype shop and the physiological laboratory which allow us to carry out the pertinent experiments.